时代周刊:梅根的意义(4)（在线收听）

It's a hostility that many British people of color perceive instinctively

在深深地根植于“‘英国性’就其内核而言是一种白人身份”这一理念，

in the political debate that has weaponized immigration

并以移民问题为斗争武器的政治辩论中，

and one that is rooted in the idea that Britishness is at its core a white identity.

许多英国有色人种都能本能地感受到这种敌意。

The royal family has not traditionally been an agent of change in this respect.

英国王室在这方面历来都不是变革的代表。

During my childhood, the spectacle of an exclusively white monarchy and aristocracy

在我的童年时代，王室和贵族成员无一例外都是白人，

helped reinforce the notion that Britishness was white.

这一情景更是强化了英国性就是白人性的观念。

It was taken for granted that the royals appeared to make up a deliberately, permanently white institution.

人们也理所当然地认为，王室成员似乎有意要组建一个永远只有白人的王室。

Their main role in my life was to make me feel excluded from the country.

他们在我人生中所起的主要作用就是让我觉得自己不属于这个国家。

I was not alone in feeling this way.

问题是，这样想的并非只我一人。

The royal family don't stand for us. They never have,

“我们并不在王室代表的人群之内，从来都不在，”

says Candice Carty- Williams, author of a forthcoming novel, Queenie,

即将付梓的小说《奎妮》的作者坎迪斯·卡蒂-威廉姆斯说道，

that has already been referred to as the "black Bridget Jones."

这本小说已经被誉为“黑人的《BJ单身日记》”了。

"Black people would have been slaves to them. They are not friends with any of us.

“黑人原本可能成为他们的奴隶的，他们也从未拿我们中间的任何人当朋友。

When we watch The Crown or Downton Abbey, there are never any black people.

《王冠》或《唐顿庄园》里也都没有黑人。

There is a history of them not having any interest in us. "

他们历来就对我们没有丝毫的兴趣。”

There is discernible weariness among some black British people

部分黑人显然已经厌倦了

that the idea of a biracial woman's joining the royal family

一个混血女性加入皇室

would make any discernible difference to race in Britain,

就会对英国的种族产生明显的影响这种想法，

where the odds remain stacked against people of color.

因为在这个国家，有色人种的机遇依旧十分渺茫。

Forty percent of families from black African and Caribbean backgrounds

在英国，40%的来自非洲和加勒比地区的黑人家庭都是低收入家庭，

live in low-income households in Britain, compared with 19% of white families.

而白人的低收入家庭比例只有19%。

Twenty-three percent of young black people and 25% of young Bangladeshi and Pakistani youth are unemployed,

黑人青年，孟加拉裔和巴基斯坦裔青年中失业的人口比例分别高达23%和25%，

more than double the number of white job seekers of the same age.

比同一年龄段待业的白人比例多出了一倍不止。

And there is some evidence that these figures are getting worse.

而且有迹象表明，这一差距还在继续恶化。

But others regard the royal family as a symbolic institution,

但也有人认为王室是个象征性的机构，

where the visibility of a woman of color in a position of such status sends a powerful message.

一个有色人种女性当上王妃，在王室崭露头角会传达出强有力的信息。

Black excellence in the royal family is a cool idea from a contemporary point of view,

“从当代人的眼光来看，有着黑人血统的梅根加入王室，想想就觉得很酷，”

says Lola Adesioye, a British writer and journalist who is based in the U.S.

常驻美国的英国作家兼记者萝拉·阿德西奥耶说道。

"How did this girl—who is not only of color, but didn't go to the same schools or universities as the royals,

“这个女孩不仅是有色人种，上的学校也和皇室成员不同，

who wasn't even raised in the U.K., and so has all these points of diference and otherness—

甚至都没有英国长大，她看上去是那么的不同，那么的另类，

get to this place? It says a lot about diversification. "

那她究竟是怎么走到今天的？这个问题充分地说明，王室在朝着多元化方向发展。”